Largest live rat safe to leave overnight

thank you lovelace, i was looking up that pic for this thread, glad to see my pic being used to help people, never leave a rat

Hey someone else just stated this on another thread and I thought it was brilliant. When you prekill or use F/T and want to leave it in the rack.....put it on the warm end.

Totally makes sense...duh...never thought of that. Just wanted to throw that in for you!!;)

I do appreciate the actual helpful suggestions and ideas from a few of you.

The rest of you ding-dongs who seem to think I'm some kind of moron who'd toss a starving live jumbo rat in with one of my beloved babies, you are just a waste of my time. If any of you bothered to actually read the post instead of jumping to conclusions about how stupid I am, you might learn something. Then again, you might not.

All of these snakes have happily taken rats numerous times before, but in the three months since I moved them to a rack, only about half eat. I've been there, done that with pretty much every trick in the book, which is why I've come to this point. I wouldn't be wasting anyone's time if this was a one time thing.

But since this has gone on for a length of time with sub-adult snakes, and it's been enough to cause them to loose weight, I feel it necessary to take this further than I already have been. I know most of them would barely notice a fuzzy rat if they ate it, but if they did at least they'd be eating something, and it might just snap them out of the fast mode.

Regardless of if it works or not, I am not about to put one of my scaled babies at risk, despite what most of you seem to assume.

Gale

Gale...I have to tell you....no one at all meant to assume that you did not know what to do or that you would do that. 99.9% of our members have the best intentions in the world of helping out ALL reptile lovers. To be honest....we all ask lots of questions as we have been faced with ppl that truly truly do not know better. If someone did not say anything in regards to leaving a feeder in...and then something happen..oye. I personally would feel terrible and feel like I let down the OP as well as the reptile. Please do not take offense as to ppl stating to you what might be obvious....as we have no idea of your prior knowledge to BP's.

I hope that you understand my reason for this post and that I did not offend you in anyway nor try to insinuate that you are stupid!! :oops:

Largest I've ever left in an animals' cage/tub unsupervised was a rat pup

While I don't condone such activity, I can say that I have accidently left small rats in the tub overnight, and some for two nights, without any adverse effects to the snake. With that said, my best advice to you is to feel the gums of the rat you are wanting to leave in overnight, and if the teeth are long enough to puncture a scale, do not leave it in for more than an hour and a half.

p.s. Have you tried mice or ASFs before making this attempt. Sometimes a prey change is all that is needed to spark a feeding response. Another trick is to take your snake for a ride in the car in a snake bag for about 30 minutes. Then try feeding it when you get home.

Hope that helps,

Elizabeth, I certainly wasn't talking to you or about you.

I actually appreciate your advice. I am not so sure I could P/K an appropriate size rat, I am kind of attached to the little guys, and I'm a softie to begin with. But, I am running out of tricks to try. Mice don't work, live or F/T, smaller F/T rats didn't work, leaving F/T overnight didn't, ASF are illegal here, so I don't have that option.

I tried the pillowcase thing, tried moving them into smaller tubs for a couple of weeks, tried prescenting the room with my daughters pet rat, tried the chicken broth thing, no deal.

I think I'm going to try the car ride thing, heck that's the only way I could get one of my kids to sleep as a baby. Then if that doesn't work. I'll
try and locate a few larger fuzzy rats and give them a try. Worst case scenario, my good eaters will take them if the others do not. Best case, my stubborn babies will eat again, and I'll feel better.

If this doesn't work, I'll do my best to stomach the P/K thing. I just worry about them because they are losing weight. Not a lot, yet, but enough to worry me.

Gale

Gale

you could always try that co2 thing to prekill. ?? I have not made the switch to rats yet as I too have a soft spot for them. Mice on the other hand....ahhh ...no problems. Especially after I got bit by one.

The ASF idea might not be a bad idea ....but good luck on switching back after that. I heard they are like candy to BP's.